Course Description

Instructor: Jane Keller Herzig

Art HERstory with Jane Keller Herzig is an eleven-session course focuses on women painters, their lives. and output from the 1540's to the 1840's. For the most part, these genius women are not known, and the question as to why is central to the conversation. Each session encompasses an hour and a half: a slide lecture followed by a half hour discussion. Even though this course focuses on women artists, they could. not have become prominent without the support of powerful men. I address this aspect as well...it is not a one-sided conversation.

The topics for the 11 sessions are as follows:

Session 1 - Materials and Techniques - a survey of materials and techniques utilized by artists, starting with prehistoric cave paintings, and ending in the 19th century. During this session we learn why, with the development of new materials and techniques, gaining artistic skills was extremely challenging for women.

Session 2 - An Uneven playing Field with Barriers, Potholes and Moving Goal Posts. During this session we discover how a much-loved painting in a major museum, once thought to be the work of a famous 19th century artist, was painted by a previously unknown woman. How the painting was re-attributed is a visual adventure. We become familiar with the barriers that women had to hurdle to become recognized artists.

Session 3 - Sofonisba Anguissola c 1532-1625. As a lady-in-waiting for Isabel de Valois, wife of Philip II of Spain, Anguissola was an eminent portrait painter in the King's court. How she became renowned throughout Italy is captivating history.

Session 4 - Lavinia Fontana 1552-1614. Daughter of a Bolognese painter, Fontana was one of the most sought after and highest paid painters in all of 16th century Italy.

Session 5 - Artemisia Gentileschi 1593-1614. Rediscovered in 1916, and today considered one of the most eminent painters of the Baroque era Artemisia's story and her artwork are compelling.

Session 6 - Judith Leyster 1609-1660. Lost to art history, Judith Leyster was rediscovered in the 1890's. Her work was until then thought to be created by the eminent Dutch painter Frans Hals.

Session 7 - Clara Peeters 1580's-1657? and Maria van Oosterwyck 1630-1693. During this session we will do a brief survey of genre painting during the Dutch Golden Age of painting and will focus on two remarkable still life painters, Clara Peeters and Maria van Oosterwyck.

Session 8 - Rachel Ruysch 1664-1750. Ruysch was a brilliant painter who was able to meld creatures and plants from far off places into meticulously crafted floral still-life pieces.

Session 9- Maria Sibylla Merian 1647-1717. Merian was a printmaker. At 13 she was the first person to record and paint the complete metamorphosis of a silkworm caterpillar. During her long and adventurous life she was able to depict her observations with brilliance and accuracy.

Session 10 - Adélaïde Labille-Guiard 1749-1803 Labille-Guiard was an eminent portrait painter who lived in Paris before, during and after the French Revolution.

Session 11 - Elisabeth Vigée Le Brun 1755-1842. Contemporary of Labille -Guiard, and portraitist of Marie Antoinette, Vigée Le Brun had to flee France during the French Revolution.

BIO: Attended Smith College - 3 years, Art History Major
Hunter College - BA - Art 1965
MS - SCSU - 1970
MA-Ed - Hartford Art School - 1981
Created - Art HERstory with Jane Keller Herzig - 11 session course on women artists, whose work today is being honored - starting with Sofonisba Anguissola
Presented course through the Institute of New Dimensions (IND) - College Level Courses from Bergen county (NJ) Seniors